


Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light

by MickyRC



Series: Star of Wonder Ineffable Advent [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Advent Calendar, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Music, Holidays, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), Inspired by Music, M/M, canon-typical religious themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21633664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MickyRC/pseuds/MickyRC
Summary: Aziraphale has always gone to a midnight service on Christmas Eve.  And just because Crowley can't follow him inside doesn't mean he won't be there for him.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Star of Wonder Ineffable Advent [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559308
Comments: 9
Kudos: 68





	Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 of my Star of Wonder advent calendar, in which each day's fic is inspired by a song from my favorite Christmas album, The Roches' _We Three Kings._ (Thus the wacky title. I know, it's a bit much.) It's also going up on tumblr [over here!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/micky-r-c)

Crowley shivered and kicked at a nearby snowbank. It was old snow; not strictly a white Christmas, then, but kinda nice anyway. The cold though—he could do without the cold. That was a bit much.

But despite the late night chill and the December wind, the outer door of the chapel was open, so even from his position at the end of the path, he could hear when the organ began to sound, and the shuffle and scrape of the congregation standing up and finding their place in the hymn books. He wondered if he’d be able to recognize this one. He’d made out “Silent Night” and “In the Bleak Midwinter” earlier. That’d been nice; he liked “In the Bleak Midwinter,” liked the way the chords never quite resolved, even at the end of the verse. It had the lilt of a lullaby and the text of a song of praise, but the melody was just… sad, really. More so than just a minor key should be able to do. It was calm. Gentle, in its way.

This piece wasn’t going to be like that, it was already clear. No, this one was big and loud and probably actually followed hymn composing rules. Bit dull, really.

He kicked another patch of snow on the pavement. He hadn’t been planning on standing there so long. He’d meant to go for a walk after driving Aziraphale over, wander around the neighborhood and look at the Christmas lights. He’d been planning to throw a few curses around, maybe do a few small temptations. But then the service had started, and even though he knew he couldn’t go in without making a scene, he realized he didn’t really want to go. He didn’t have a hymn book, and he couldn’t make out the readings or lessons, but he could hear the music. Could even hum along with some of it. It was nothing special, but it was as close as he could get. Literally: he was standing right on the edge of consecrated ground here.

But then the song was ending, the organ fading out to nothing and the singers enjoying the last moments of the chord. And the next thing he knew, the inner door was swung open, and the congregation spilled out. “Happy Christmas” was shouted back and forth through the crowd, as people wrapped scarves around necks and parents pulled little hands into mittens and gloves. Crowley watched them spread out along the road, heading for cars and nearby flats, ready for a few hours sleep before the day really began.

“Hello, there.” He felt his face split in a grin before he even turned around. “What brings you here?” Aziraphale looked unspeakably cozy in his long coat and plush knit hat.

“Oh, y’know,” Crowley said, leaning back with his hands in his pockets. “Waiting for someone.”

The angel’s eyebrow lifted. “That’s very good of you.”

Crowley shrugged, but made no effort to hide his smile. “He’s worth it.”

Aziraphale’s smile somehow got sweeter. He reached out to caress Crowley’s cheek, and promptly yelped. “Oh, my dear, you’re _freezing!_ How long have you been out here?”

“Eh. Don’t worry about it, angel.”

“Honestly, Crowley,” Aziraphale huffed. “You may be a demon, but your body’s still mostly human. You could have gotten frostbite, or, or hypothermia!”

Crowley just grinned wider and pressed forward into his personal space. “Well, then.” He put more than a layer of suggestion into his voice. “I guess you’ll just have to warm me up, won’t you?”

Aziraphale scoffed at him, but the smile never left his eyes as he took Crowley’s arm and turned them away from the church.

“I do hope you weren’t too bored without me, darling.”

“Nah, ‘s fine. It was important to you.”

“Still. I wish we could have gone together.”

“Gotta work with what we’ve got. Really, angel, I was perfectly happy outside.” They had reached the Bentley, and Crowley pulled open the door for Aziraphale. But the angel did not get in. Instead, he took Crowley’s face in his thick gloved hands and pressed a gentle, loving kiss to his lips. Crowley wrapped his arms around Aziraphale’s waist, squeezing him closer and reveling in the sudden warmth. They stood there for a long moment, happily ignoring the rest of the world. And then the church bells began to ring.

“Oh!” Aziraphale pulled away to look back towards the chapel. “It’s midnight.”

Crowley turned his chin with a gentle hand. “Happy Christmas, angel.”

And Aziraphale smiled back at him with so much love he thought he would burst. “Happy Christmas, my dear.”


End file.
